Day 1 of Northwestern Duals complete, competition stiff in Evanston

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Princeton went 5-3 Saturday with each of the three losses coming by no more than three bouts and all against ranked opponents. The Tiger men swept their five foes outside the national top 10.

Stanford competed in 13 dual matches between the men’s and women’s teams on Saturday.

The Cardinal went 3-3 on Saturday, including big wins against No. 3 Princeton (14-13) and No. 4 Notre Dame (15-12). Stanford fell in top-10 matchups with No. 6 Ohio State (20-7) and No. 8 Penn (17-10). The other two matches on the first day of the event were a win against Wayne State (21-6) and loss to North Carolina (15-12).

Leading the way for the Cardinal was sophomore Alexander Massialas in foil, who lost just twice on the day while posting a 13-2 record. Also recording double-digit wins was freshman Ben Riviere in epee with a 10-8 ledger. Junior Paul Riviere and senior Jake Harbour each notched nine wins in epee on the day.

Notre Dame dropped the first round bout against Penn 19-8, but came back in the second round against Princeton, they pulled off the upset and won 15-12. Sabre and epee both posted 5-4 marks, and the foil squad – competing without captain Gerek Meinhardt – won 6-3.

Notre Dame fought extremely well against North Carolina in the third round, winning 18-9. The men’s sabre squad comprised of Kevin Hassett, Alex Coccia, John Hallsten and Billy Meckling won 5-4, and were followed by the foil squad with a rotation of Gabriel Acuna, Ryan Murphy, Alan Markow, Nick Kubik and Kristjan Archer. The foil squad won 6-3, but what was perhaps most impressive was the men’s epee squad. Boasting Garrett McGrath, Mikhail Heber, Arthur Le Meur, Dale Purdy, and John Poremski, the epeeists won 7-2, their best record in a head-to-head match so far.

Moving into the fifth round, Notre Dame lost to Stanford.

In the seventh round, the men went back and forth with Duke Blue, but sadly were not able to pull out the win as Duke went up 14-13. They made up for it in the eighth and final round, where they ousted Lawrence Vikings 24-3.

No. 9 Brown at Eric Sollee Invitational

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Brown combined to go unbeaten for the fourth time in five outings as the team finished 5-0 at the Eric Sollee invitational hosted by Brandeis.

The soundest defeat of the day came against Hunter, whom the Bears dominated 23-4. The men's team also beat Haverford 20-7, NYU 15-12, NJIT 16-11 and Stevens Institute 16-11.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The top-ranked Tigers finished 6-0 on the day and has the chance to go undefeated at the Northwestern Duals for the first time in five trips to the event. Notre Dame, which the women defeated 17-10 Saturday, defeated Princeton in each of their previous four visits, while Ohio State defeated Princeton's women in their last three visits to Northwestern. Princeton beat the Buckeyes 15-12 Saturday. With the six wins, the Tigers ran their dual-match winning streak to 34 matches, dating back to their last trip to Northwestern and defeats against Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Northwestern began the NU Duals with five victories to just one, one-touch, loss on Saturday, the first day of the two-day event. Northwestern defeated UC San Diego 18-9. In round two, Northwestern beat No. 9 Temple 17-10.

The third round featured another rematch from six days ago, this time versus No. 8 Penn. In Philadelphia, the Wildcats topped the Quakers 14-13, but in Evanston, the Ivy League squad flipped the script and pulled out a one-touch win of their own. The Wildcats held the upper hand in sabre (7-2) and epée (5-4), but Penn won eight of nine foil bouts to avenge last Sunday's loss.

The Wildcats faced Duke for the first time this season in the fourth round of the meet. After dropping a close decision in Durham, N.C. last season, the Purple and White exacted revenge this time around with a resounding 19-8 triumph.

Northwestern's first day concluded with an 18-9 triumph against Tufts.